UF campus holds decades of legends, ghost stories

While they're not exactly the fantastic fairy tales of the
Brothers Grimm, UF has its own collection of myths and legends
passed on from year to year.

UF law students can blame their study woes on ghosts, since the
College of Law is built over the site of an ancient Native American
burial ground. Rumor has it that ghosts haunt this area, unable to
rest since their burial ground was defiled.

"Well, it is built on an Indian burial ground, there is a big
sign out front that says that," said Steve Orlando, UF spokesman.
"I suspect a lot of beleaguered, study-worn law students would say
that it is very true."

Norman Hall, which is home to the College of Education, is said
to be haunted by the ghost of a little girl who died in the
building in the 1930s. According to university archivist Carl Van
Ness, Norman Hall was the original site of P.K. Yonge Developmental
Research School, a K-12 school.

The residence building Thomas Hall is supposedly haunted by the
spirit of Steve, the old cafeteria cook. Before the hall was
converted to strictly housing, Thomas Hall had a large cafeteria,
which was run by Steve. According to the legend, Steve still walks
the halls banging his pots and pans together and can be heard
throughout the building.

Van Ness said that there really was an old cook in Thomas Hall
named Steve, and when he died, the students wanted to keep his
memory alive through this legend.

"He was the cook for many years, and after he died, many
students suggested that the sounds of the clanging of the radiator
pipes was really Steve," Van Ness said.

Century Tower is another building on campus with a few legends
surrounding it. One legend is that there was at one point a pit
around the tower that held live alligators. According to Van Ness,
this legend is true. Between 1953 and 1970, UF built an alligator
pen around Century Tower to hold their live mascots. This is where
the very first Albert the Alligator came from.

UF eventually had to stop using live alligator mascots because
they were being mistreated. The first Albert was found beaten to
death, and Florida State University students kidnapped his
replacement, Albert II, as a prank. UF went through several
alligators, and all of them died or developed health problems
before the idea of a live mascot was scrapped.

A second legend surrounding Century Tower is about its bricks.
It is said that any time a virgin graduates from UF, a brick will
fall from the top of the tower. As anyone can tell you now, Century
Tower still stands tall and sturdy.

"It's still standing and still intact. That's all I'll say about
that," said Orlando.

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity brothers are doing their part
to help keep Century Tower standing tall for years to come. In
front of the SAE Fraternity house is a lion statue, which is
constantly being painted different colors.

According to the legend, whenever an SAE Fraternity member takes
a girl's virginity, the lion will be repainted the color of her
panties.

"Some things are better left to other people's imaginations,"
SAE President Andrew Peluso said. "We recently set fire to the lion
about a year and a half ago. We had years and years and years of
paint on the lion and had to burn it all off."

Beaty Towers also have their own legend, which states that there
once was a girl

who committed suicide by jumping off the roof of one of the
towers. Later, songwriter and musician Tom Petty, a Gainesville
native, supposedly wrote his song "American Girl" based on this
legend.

Orlando said that no one has committed suicide by jumping off
Beaty Towers. Orlando also said that he has met Petty in person,
and Petty told him that the song was not inspired by this
rumor.